Beat grass - Alert snake

I had an interview lined up for today (30th May) but I had a problem. Wednesday is a dress-down day for us and it would be pretty obvious if I went in with the usual office wear. However, I was late for work and I was feeling a bit reckless so I thought, "To hell with it" and went dressed for the interview. If questioned, I intend to answer with the truth and leave them blinking.

Except that the world is filled with people who like to put you in a tight spot. I was asked upon my arrival (late for work, of course), if the reason for me being so well dressed on a Wednesday is due to an upcoming interview. I blinked once and said, "Yeah" and laid down my bag. "Wah... You dare to say this in front of NewBoss (not her real name) ?", he asked, caught himself and stopped.

The scattered remains of the world got to know from my own mouth. Some warned me against such a blatant display of a desire to move. I didn't catch any reactions from my bosses but should my actions surprise them?

After all this excitement, I got a call from the manager. He won't be free for the evening and so he would like to conduct an interview over the phone. If he intended this as a tactic to catch me off-guard, he succeeded. I stammered and jabbered my way through and concluded the call. He gave me a positive sign though I wasn't convinced. If I were to switch places with him, I wouldn't be so stupid to hire myself.

The gauntlet has been thrown and the eyes are watching. The cycle begins again.

First week back

With little mercy, I was re-integrated to the industry of the workplace. I have hardly told the story of my trip to anyone before I was whisked away to handover sessions. It didn't agree with my headache. Users have not been idle, submitting a record number of bug reports with a vengeance.

"So how was your Greece trip?", they asked.
"Nice", I said. "But the food was boring".
If they question me more, I would tell them that Athens was boring. I do enjoy the overall experience though.

Photos have been finally been delivered to my PC! I have trimmed them down to 3.54 GB but I don't think it's going to be ready anytime soon. Please be patient.

Metta Charity Walk cum Family Carnival * 27th May 2007

Dear friends,

We write to seek your support for our upcoming Metta Charity Walk cum Family Carnival to be held on Sunday, 27th May 2007 at 32 Simei Street 1 where over 80 Vegetarian food and trade stalls will be showcased. We are are honoured to have Mrs Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, MP for East Coast GRC and Advisor to East Coast GRC GROs as our Guest of Honour for the event.

Metta Welfare is dedicated to the active promotion of humanitarian causes by initiating and assisting a wide range of community projects. With an annual expenditure of S$5 million, this poses a challenging task for us and we will need your support so that our beneficiaries can receive proper care and services.

We would like to appeal for your generous support towards the event through purchasing the Carnival Coupons for the event or alternatively, you may want to help by giving an outright donation to help underwrite the cost of the event. All donations will receive tax exemptions.

We look forward to having your support!


Kind regards,
Felicia Wee
Manager, Events & Publicity
Metta Welfare Association

Tayor's last day

[post had been edited]

So long...
Another one of my friends made during ES(A) phase gone.

Isn't it amusing how you make a lot of friends when you join a new workplace and then stop making new ones?

Fundraising for our fellow animals!

[doing the lazy way and posting this up again...]

hihi pple,

some help urgently needed fr ya leh..
dunno how many of u hv heard of 'acres'? it stands for 'animals concern research & education society'
and is actually a locally founded charity which is concerned abt conserving wildlife & ending exploitation of animals, e.g tackling e illegal wildlife trade, driving for the termination of keeping arctic mammals like polar bears in our singapore zoo & the freeing of our intelligent dolphins fr e clastrophobic pink dolphin lagoon in sentosa..

currently, after lotsa hardwork, acres succeeded in getting
our v own wildlife rescue centre to b built in sungei tengah.
however, e funds needed for the rescue centre is a huge sum of 1 million dollars and as construction is expected to finish by end of may, acres is seriously in need of funding coz it will need 2 pay up for the construction cost real soon liaoz leh..

will greatly appreciate ur help if ur can help forward e attached proposal for corporate sponsorship 2 e charity committee or watever fundraising group in ur company which deals wif allocating charity funds so that hopefully, acres can get more corporate donations or sponsorship for e rescue centre. & of course if u feel for the cause as well, pls consider making a donation 2 k? u can read up more abt acres & its work fr its website www.acres.org.sg

ha, last ting, if can, pls do forward dis mail 2 as many frenz, relatives, acquintances as possible k so that more pple will help wif funding acres? thx thx lotsa!


c heers,
jun

Jet lag!

Just woke up =(

Greece: Santorini (part B)

[description] The villages of Santorini Greece are considered as one of the most beautiful villages of Greece. Of course not all the villages are impressive. Some are newly built to welcome the tourists. The famous villages are Oia and Fira. There are perched over huge cliffs and offer extraordinary views over the sea and the submerged volcano. [/description]

--from previous day
That night was to be the last that we'll have with this tour group of ours. One of the guys (someone help me here..) from the 2 guys group wished us well; which was quite appreciated. We slept, amid the continuing odour attacks from the toilet, looking forward to the next part of our Santorini stay.

--cont
*** Day 8, May 12, Sat ***

[background] We bought this tour package of 10 days with TopDeck (www.topdecktours.co.uk) as they were the only one at the TravelFair that allowed us to customise our plan. We thought that the island hopping plan was too hectic and we wanted to explore one of the islands in greater details; we chose Santorini.

So we would part with our travel group "today" and stay here for 2 more nights. We would return to Athens on our own (hence, that missing ticket was so important). Our Athens stay would be extended by another 2 nights, bringing our total stay in Greece to 14 days.

[/background]


*** Day 9, May 13, Sun ***


*** Day 10, May 14, Mon ***

[Closing]

[Links]
Index (not so soon...)
Day 1-2: Athens
Day 2-4: Paros
Day 4-6: Mykonos; Pictures at Mykonos
Day 6-7: Santorini-part A
Day 8-10: Santorini-part B (WIP)
Day 10-12: Back to Athens (not so soon...)

Greece: Santorini (part A)

[description] The villages of Santorini Greece are considered as one of the most beautiful villages of Greece. Of course not all the villages are impressive. Some are newly built to welcome the tourists. The famous villages are Oia and Fira. There are perched over huge cliffs and offer extraordinary views over the sea and the submerged volcano. [/description]

*** Day 6, May 10, Thu ***
This was the most anticipated part of the island hopping - Santorini. A well known romantic spot as well as a historical site. The cliffs were interestingly layered and the roads that were formed from it gave us a good view of the caldera.



We checked into Magarita Hotel. Boy, it stunk! And cramped too!


Outside the smelly sardine can, the view was great.


Our guide, Mary, took us out to dinner.





*** Day 7, May 11, Fri ***
The next morning, we confronted Mary again. She claimed she had given us our tickets in Paros and we had no such recollections. We finally pushed her to check her files another time. This is our victory sign.


Next stop - Ancient Thira.
Some frustrations here as we met the rudest taxi drivers in the world.
Us: Can you take us to Ancient Thira?
Rude: Thira? Yes, yes. Thira, Thira.
walked away for a smoke
another couple approached him. He picked them up
Bloody!...

Without any luck from the taxi drivers, we took a bus. Hopped off and made our way there on food.


We got our transport up the hill. It was the last bus.


Weeee...


Ancient Thira





We then proceeded to the Black Beach - formed from black volcanic rocks. The beach was hot to the touch but this is from the sun rays, not from the volcano.


That night was to be the last that we'll have with this tour group of ours. One of the guys (someone help me here..) from the 2 guys group wished us well; which was quite appreciated. We slept, amid the continuing odour attacks from the toilet, looking forward to the next part of our Santorini stay.

[To be continued...]

[Links]
Index (not so soon...)
Day 1-2: Athens
Day 2-4: Paros
Day 4-6: Mykonos; Pictures at Mykonos
Day 6-7: Santorini-part A
Day 8-10: Santorini-part B (WIP)
Day 10-12: Back to Athens (not so soon...)

Greece: Mykonos

[description] Mykonos, the most famous of the islands in Greece and one of the world's most popular holiday resorts has been welcoming visitors for over half a century.[/description]

[post has been back-dated]

Mykonos, we arrived.
The crowd was scary. This was the most densely populated place in Greece that I have witnessed so far. What would Santorini be like?

Our room. Pretty!

View from our restaurant.

Once we settled in, my views were changed. This looks like a nice place indeed.

*** Day 5, May 09, Wed ***
(Arrival):
We checked in and Mary brought us to town. The streets appeared to me as similar to any modern commercial area, with modern brands and accessories. Once we reached the docks, we went a bit crazy over the windmills and the sunset.
We split from the group and wandered about by ourselves. Finally, we indulged ourselves at Scandinavian Bar. The bartender lady gave us a drink on the house, even before we bought any drinks. I ordered Margaritas and erm... I forgot. I had 4 drinks in all, including a second drink on the house - chocolate Baileys. The night ended, starting with amusement, which turned to irritation and concluding with exasperation.

*** Day 6, May 10, Thu *** (Exploration):
We took a long hike around the southern edge of the island and got a bit sunburnt in the process. The view was great and the waters were always so blue.
Evening was spent shopping in the town. We were getting sick of Greek food at this point so we tried to seek out a Chinese-Thai restaurant. However, it was no where to be found. We finally settled for pizza, which was thin and delicious.
We continued exploring the town well after midnight, where we found some really nice hotels, with very high prices.

[Closing]
With beautiful beaches and a shopping paradise. It's not difficult to see why this is such a popular place.

[Links]
Index (not so soon...)
Day 1-2: Athens
Day 2-4: Paros
Day 4-6: Mykonos; Pictures at Mykonos
Day 6-7: Santorini-part A
Day 8-10: Santorini-part B (WIP)
Day 10-12: Back to Athens (not so soon...)

Greece: Paros

[description]
Paros is considered as one of the most beautiful islands of the Cyclades. It is characterized by the many beaches and also the charming villages: Parikia (the main town), Naoussa, Lefkes, Marpissa and other. Naoussa is a old fishing village turned into a cosmopolitan top holiday destination. The village is characterized by its Venetian port and its many fish restaurants. The architecture of the area is also incredible.
[/description]

[post has been back-dated]

[click on the pictures to have an enlarged view]
*** Day 3, May 7, Mon ***

Looks like a crummy old town...

Click...

We checked in to Hotel Asterias and we're quite pleased with it. You can't see much so you just have to take my word that it is an attractive pool...

Stop taking me or it's war!

This is where we had lunch.

The best potatoes we ever had. Rich and earthly.

We returned to our hotel to meet the others for a quick trip to a hill-top town. There we met a friendly old couple.

On our way to dinner, we caught our first sunset in Greece.

[click on the pictures to have an enlarged view]
*** Day 4, May 8, Tue ***

Children having fun.

A typical street.

The old couple we met on the previous day (3).

We took a photo with them.

Our first and best taste of grilled vegetables.

More of the town.

Church near the Frankish Castle.

With a great view

[Closing]
I like Paros. It is a quiet, charming town who does not go out of her way to draw tourists. Everything is in white and blue and we wonder what kind of paints they sell! In a cyber-cafe, we met a nice attendant from Scandinavia. She was pretty and serious about her job and wanted to much to please. Our only bad experience was a shop-keeper who shoo-ed us out of his shop for no obvious reason - other than we were talking and not purchasing anything... It's the only blemish in a town of friendly people where the restaurants owners enjoy their small-talk with you, even if you're not stopping for a meal.



[Links]
Index (not so soon...)
Day 1-2: Athens
Day 2-4: Paros
Day 4-6: Mykonos; Pictures at Mykonos
Day 6-7: Santorini-part A
Day 8-10: Santorini-part B (WIP)
Day 10-12: Back to Athens (not so soon...)